Toyota To Delay Some Vehicle Deliveries Due To Soot

NAGOYA (Kyodo) -- Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it expects to delay the delivery of about 23,000 vehicles by up to a month while it cleans up soot spewed from a Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. plant in central Japan.

According to the automaker, around 20,000 vehicles bound for export and some 3,000 units for domestic shipment kept at two storage sites in the city of Tokai in Aichi Prefecture were affected by the black smoke emitted from the steel mill late last month.

The delivery of vehicles for export may be delayed from one week to one month and that of cars for shipment in Japan is likely to be behind schedule by up to three weeks. A company official said it has not decided whether to seek compensation from Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal.

Toyota mobilized a total of about 5,000 employees from its factory to clean the vehicles for export while dealerships are removing the soot from cars to be delivered in Japan.

On June 22, a power failure occurred at the Nagoya steelworks' coke oven and the operator burned gas containing carbon monoxide, causing the emission of black smoke.

The external power supply was shut down mistakenly at the mill due to errors in an operation manual.